Life at Bellerbys College

Conclusion

Posted by Shiny

Time elapses.  So fast have the 2 years passed!  I wanna do a simple recalling of how I felt for the two years at Bellerbys Brighton.

Changing seems to be a good thing.  When things change, you experience more, as long as you can adapt the new circumstance.  When I first came here, I was kinda losing myself on some subjects that are funny but difficult.  After a while, my combination of subjects has completely changed.  Therefore I kept changing teachers.  In other words, I met lots of teachers who don’t teach me any more or who weren’t officially my teachers.

Just after the Awards ceremony, I brought my camera in to take photos with the teachers.  I was just aware that I love them so much.  Dr. Butcher, Mr. Bowen, Dr. Cameron, Mr. Dixon, Paula and so on.  They have taught me so much.  Not only about study, but also about life and knowledge that can’t be obtained from textbooks. I sincerely appreciate them!

Some students recently are talking about working in England for the whole summer.  Different people make diverse choices.  I mean I also want to work here.  But I regard family the most indispensable things in my life.  I don’t want to suffer from loneliness in the UK while leaving my grandparents lonely as well.  And of course after nine months abroad, I want to return to my lovely house.  Elderly people require more companions.  Life is short, and time of staying together is even shorter.  Why not spend more time with those who care about you, love you and devote themselves to you?

People always say “if only” to show their pity.  They think they need to get something, then they just go for it.  It may not be bad, but when you look backwards, as the Chinese saying, “You pick up sesame at the cost of gaining a watermelon.”  We sometimes realize that what we have done isn’t what we shall do.

Dr. Butcher’s words always ring around my ears: “Don’t do things because you can, but do them because you need it.  And you need to learn to be ‘lazy’ enough sometimes.”  Knowing what we need to do rather than we can do is not a piece of cake.  And of course “lazy” here isn’t a normal lazy, yet it tells us that being able to do one thing isn’t enough, you also need to do it efficiently, otherwise you are gonna waste most of your life on something you deserve which could have been done more splendidly.  Usually the differences among people are about whether or not you can do something, but how brilliantly you can deal with it.  At the same time, Dr. Butcher also enjoys combining things in a wide range of subjects following which model them by a mathematical model which attracts us and brings in fresh challenges.

If you look at the S1 which sucks, you will see that when you are dealing with the probability questions, sometimes you use tree diagrams to show them step by step, but it doesn’t apply to everything.  For instance, though some questions can be solved by tree diagrams, it is much quicker to use a Venn diagram instead.  Life is also like this and quite often, things can’t be done in order, but together.  Don’t say things like “I will donate some money when I really have time.”  Guess what?  Patients or victims can’t wait for as short as one second in the operation or in the earthquake.  Life can’t wait!  And never say “I will love my family when I am absolutely free.”  By saying this, you are actually finding excuses, and you are never gonna get there or even if you get there, it might be too late.

Life, for most of the time, as what Mr. Bowen said, was busy.  If we don’t know how to find a way to relax beyond work or work among relaxing, we are always a loser to time for we will be neither working successfully nor playing happily.  Free time isn’t there until you squeeze it out from your life like using toothpaste.  If possible, I would like to be like Mr. Bowen who can give “laugh and learn” classes in the day time, and after work, go down to the sea to frighten the sharks!  Remember that?  “Do you know why there aren’t any sharks in Brighton?  Because Mr. Bowen swims there!”

Mr. Dixon always gives us passion on both maths and life.  He seems to be energetic all the time.  He always demonstrates his vigor subconsciously.  And in his Maths class, we got aware that we can use tons of methods to solve the questions, but the answer is unique.  He always encourages us to try many ways.  By making different mistakes, and by coming across new questions, we learn new things.

Sometimes, maths shares the common spirit like a religion.  When you are not sure about something that can’t be proved or predicted easily but you have to choose one of the two sides, just assume that it is correct and try further things based on the fundamental assumption, sooner or later, you may find out the truth, and if the assumption is right, you get the truth.  If not, you go back to find Mr. Dixon for the truth!  The difference between maths and religion is eventually Mr. Dixon usually convinces you by logical evidence whilst the priests or pastors can’t make me believe for preaching over and over again.

Dr. Cameron said, “Some people who are more successful than others not only because they are clever, but also because they remember some important things.”  As in our life, there are so many things which may come up again and again.  If we can remember some crucial facts, it can save us lots of time so that we don’t need to go back to repeat some unnecessary work, but just used the useful conclusion we obtained from former experience.

People sometimes say to me that girls always try to distort the mind of boys.  However, the ladies in Bellerbys College aren’t like that.  Mrs. Chris, Paula and Pat are always kind to me.  They are always helpful and whenever life is hard to me, they try to comfort me.  I can’t imagine how things would be without their help.  They even told me not to exaggerate the fear on things in my heart.  By bringing them many troubles, I have grown more maturely and they told me not to bow down to the difficulties in our life.  Never give in to your enemies, beat them instead.  Never be afraid of evilness, get justice on your side!  I just realised that the way I speak is getting towards the bible… Am I in a mental and psychic assimilation?

Now that I am leaving quite soon, I really want to live a happy life for the last month, and an old age is coming to the end while a new life is about to begin.  Just want to say that “Don’t cry because it is over, smile because it begins.”

May Ball 2008 & Trip to 7 Sisters

Posted by Shiny

The Bellerbys Brighton 2008 May Ball took place on the 30th of May.  Last year, we actually had a June Ball.  I don’t know how others feel, yet in my opinion the Ball held last year in the Hove Town Hall seemed to be more entertaining.  But this year, everything was as expected.  I’ve personally made it into a photography night instead of Hollywood Night.  Bear in mind that, we can usually have a surprise or gift from life if we don’t expect too much (about it).

As there were too many people in the crowded ground floor, people were separated into several groups.  The movie played in the library didn’t impress many people, so most of the people stayed in the hall all the way from the entrance to the rear door just like the scattered electrons moving around the nucleus of atoms.  To find a person for a photo, you might need to walk for a long distance to check out the exam hall, the library, the canteen, and also the common room.

It was like walking in the agricultural market in China: crowded and hilarious.  But the dresses of people were breathtaking, especially for the eye-caching ladies.  The boys said, “Oh, why couldn’t I recognize any of them?  Who is this?  Who is that?”  Whilst some others felt regretful as they thought they should have known the gals much earlier so that they could ask them to be their dance partners.  Well, it was a bit late though.

As for me, I wasn’t fond of dancing.  So what I did after dinner was to hang around taking photos with the teachers, marvelous gals and charming boys. Y ou can find the food in other places, and you drink the wine in other cities, however, when you leave, you may not see the people again.  That’s why I usually pay more attention to the people and the culture rather than the material things.

I spent the whole night squeezing myself into piles of images.  But meanwhile, I missed out some amusing performances in the exam hall.  That’s the opportunity cost of life.  We can’t be greedy, can we?  The only regret was that I didn’t take enough photos.  But never mind, I reckon it is never enough for me.

The Award Ceremony and May Ball

Posted by Ksenia

 

On the 27th of May it was a big event for A Level students in Bellerbys Brighton – the Awards Ceremony.  It was held in our Exam Hall, and in my opinion was organised much better than in previous year when all the programs were together.

Obviously, it was fun to see everyone in a college, but it was too long and eventually boring!  This year each programme was separate, best students received their awards and A2 students their certificates.  Every one had the honour of shaking Mr Addison's hand and lots of pictures were taken.  Members of staff wished us the best of luck with our exams (we will definitely need it!!)

The whole week everybody was talking about the same topic which is quite easy to guess!  Exams?  Or no, forget about them at all, because on Friday it was THE MAY BALL!!  People were really excited about it and all the girls (and boys sometimes) could not stop discussing what they are going to wear.  Finally the celebration has begun…

The college looked stunning, flowers, decorations and even the red carpet, so that students could feel like real Hollywood stars (and we did and took lots of pictures).  Some of the students were really well prepared for this party and we saw some fantastic performances by the most talented Bellerbys students – sexy tango, hot belly dancing, show by our chocolate boys (especially appreciated by female audience), singing and live music – there was something for everyone.

In short breaks, between taking pictures, chatting with friends and dancing, we made the most of the ice cream and chocolate fountain (one of the most important attractions).  When the ball finally came to end nobody wanted to leave, so members of staff had to push us gently away from the building.  But for most of Bellerbus Brighton students it was just a beginning of a glorious night…

It was really a great party and I hope everybody has enjoyed it as much as I did… but now we have to go back to our studies!  Be brave, my friends!!

Firework Night

Posted by Shiny

On 25th May, which was the last day of Brighton Festival, there was a firework display at night at Brighton Marina.  It was supposed to start at 8.30pm, and Yi Fen and her friends went there around 7pm in order to get a place beforehand.  I was staying at home struggling and hesitating whether I shall go or not.  After all, I’ve lost my feeling upon firework.  Since I was born, for the past 20 years, fireworks have become more than normal to me.  Even those happened in anniversary days with music, themes and instruction couldn’t entice me.  As usual, I couldn’t make up my mind whether to go or not, the reason was I couldn’t find a partner.  I wouldn’t mind going to supermarket to buy something, but going alone to appreciate and enjoy something alone doesn’t give me a good impression. As you can imagine, people usually suffer from loneliness when they go to a romantic place by themselves.

Even though I didn’t like watching firework, I still want to find out the difference between the firework in China and England, so I sent the messages around to gamble and see whether anybody would like to go with me. But people have got their own partners. And some people didn’t want to go. I was desperate and it was 9 pm already though I knew the firework might not start until late when the sky turned dark. I’d almost made up my mind not to go, but I wasn’t that satisfactory about that. I decided to send my last message, which was received by Vincent. Incredibly he showed great interests on this and encouraged me to go. We set out as soon as we had confirmed about our trip, and then we met at Brighton station after running from house for about 15min. The bus 7 just came at the right time, we were glad that we didn’t miss the bus. If we did, we might have to wait for another 20 min by which the firework may have finished.

After 20 minutes on the bus we arrived at the Marina. Yi Fen told us that she was about to leave as the under 18s couldn’t stay outside the college residence without obtaining a permission in advance. But the firework wouldn’t start until 10. I got no comment…

There were at least 800 people there waiting for the fireworks. When the sky turned dark, the music started ringing, and suddenly a couple of shining lines rocketed from the dam and were drawn onto the sky separating the dark into several sections of welkin. The audiences became hilarious. People shouted out delightedly. Vincent started taking photos using the camera set which had been set up. I couldn’t find a way to use a correct mode for my digital camera, so I preferred watching without taking any photos. It turned out to be better. As when you are taking photos, you may concentrate on a tiny bit of screen and neglected the whole marvelous paint in the sky. A philosophical thought suddenly came into my mind: when we concentrate too much on an instantaneous scene in our life, we may miss a fascinating overview about it.

But thanks to the photographers Vincent and Tini, I got some photos as souvenirs.

The fireworks weren’t that exciting, and moreover, generally, it was noisy and normal, however, I still found something I liked, which was a sort of firework called “the Fleeting Screaming Spirit” by me. The tadpole-liked fireballs were projected into the sky and swam like a group of spirit vibrating up with an amusing screaming sound. Eventually the fireballs entirely vanished in the middle of the dark.

After watching the firework, there was an extreme long queue at the marina, approximately 10 buses were filled. Vincent and I didn’t want to wait for we were almost at the end of the queue, so we walked back. It was horribly dark and quiet on the roads, and not long after we walked out from the Marina, some buses came and left to pick up more people. Virtually I didn’t regret going to the firework, wasting a few hours. After all, I’ve been there and witnessed it, so I now know what it is like. No matter how it is, I know it and I won’t feel pity of missing anything good or bad. I am just a person like that, no matter how the result may be, if I think I need to do it, I just do it.

May Days

Posted by Shiny

What a lovely day!  The sun is still shining happily although it is almost 7pm which reminds me that it is May already.  We don’t have an International Labour’s Day as we are not yet labour...  Shiny couldn’t help writing down his feelings about these days.

Life is just like using toothpaste.  If you don’t squeeze it harder, you will never get more from it.  Time fleets!

It has been a hard time for the Bellerbys A2 students.  The exams are coming terribly soon and we are striving to finish learning the syllabus and doing some revision.  Two months is so long as we can’t wait to have a summer holiday, yet, it is so short that we are aware that we don’t have much time for revision.

As usual, I walked through The Level (a small local park) to get back home after class.  Take a glance at the grass on the lawn, although we are not sure how painful it would be for the grass to come out of the soil if they had their own sense of feeling, they never stop growing but always keep striving and moving towards the sun. But does it encourage you?

A pleasure ground (fun fair) has just been set up in the Level.  It should be the third time for me to see it.  People immerse themselves into the atmosphere of happiness.  Of course, you can also feast our eyes on loads of fascinating girls (some say temptresses) at the fair ground.  If you feel frustrated at the moment, go to the playground to get infected by joy!  “Life is unfair.  We men are discriminated.  You see the Asian girls can easily marry Western men while we Asian boys are hardly able to form an international family.” said someone.  “How about challenging yourself by getting a foreign girlfriend, Shiny?”

The First Exam and Easter Again

Posted by Ksenia

The spring has finally arrived in Brighton.  With some sunshine (hopefully!), plenty of flowers around and fresh green leaves appearing on trees, the feeling is completely different.  It is just so natural to smile, be happy and wear short skirts! 

Nevertheless, people in Bellerbys College are becoming more and more serious and words like 'past papers', 'revision' and (the worst of all!) 'exams' can be heard everywhere in college.  During break times the library is always full and more and more students are coming there not just to chat or leave their stuff but to study in attempt to memorise as quickly as they can everything that should be learnt thought the year.

On Saturday, the 26th of April I had my Biology experiment that is considered as part of the exam.  It is a whole piece of coursework with a huge amount of tables, graphs and written work.  Introduction, method, analysis, evaluation: does not sounds very exciting, doesn't it?  However the actual experiment was real fun.

I was investigating the effect of temperature on amylase activity with starch (probably this won't tell you too much).  Firstly the experiment does not work at all as the concentration was wrong.  Then everything went pretty well until the solution started to change colour at the temperature that it actually should not do that.  I was not too disappointed because at the end of the day it gave an opportunity to write about it in my evaluation.  The whole experiment took about 3 hours and at the end everybody was very tired.  I've never thought that science could be so exhausting!

Counting Down to the Olympics!

Posted by Shiny

The games will start in about 100 days. Recently, the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch has passed through Hong Kong and quite soon it will be relayed in my hometown. What an exciting event!  It is a pity that I can’t go back to China to witness it, but I’ve been to the torch relay in London roughly one month ago.  It was such an unforgettable experience.

On the last day of the Easter holidays, we four boys went to London to witness the relay of the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch.  Although we knew it would be snowing on that day, we didn’t feel cold with few clothes on due to the great passion on our magnificent significance.

Just after we got on the 9:17 train to London Bridge, the weather started roaring with a heavy snow.  On the way to London, everything was white with almost 3 cm of snow.  It was the heaviest snow I’ve ever seen in Brighton, and also in my life.  It was unambiguously an unforgettable experience to the people who have been living in South China for a long time.  So taking photos and chatting have become our ways for refreshments.

It was raining and snowing in London's China Town by the time we reached there.  But it didn’t reduce the number of enthusiastic people who were keen on seeing the event.  People were holding British, Chinese and Olympics flags, either in the rain or in the shops.

The police were already there and metal fences had been set up on two sides of the path that the torch will be passing through.  We were excitedly waiting on both sides regardless of the weather as we believed that no matter what sorts of weather we were going to encounter, the torch would be relayed successfully by the shields of the athletes.

Easter Holiday - Shopping and a Visit to Devil's Dyke

Posted by Shiny

Shopping

On the first few days of Easter, SING (Shiny, Ivan, Nelson and Gary) went out shopping.  As the May Ball is on the way, people want to buy an outfit so that they look their best.  A spectacular suit is the dream of many men, including the SING.  Shiny was not looking for a suit, but he had just got “annoyed” by ING who told him that the way he dressed was too childish.  So he began to check himself again.

Usually, when you are criticized by two groups of people frequently, you’ve got to review yourself.  These two groups of people are “boys & girls”.  As you can’t have a 3rd group, the opinions from these two groups of people are absolutely vital and fatal.  For the past 20 years in my humble life, what I wear has definitely demonstrated the aesthetics of my mom since I don’t really pay any attention to clothing and I am happy for her to do so.  Gradually I’ve got used to the life.  Virtually school uniforms have become my favourites after wearing them for so long.  It is actually a breakthrough to hear their comments since I don't window shop any more.  Therefore this trip was meaningful.

The comment from Ivan about me was “country boy who comes into town”.  It was a fair comment which clearly told my situation.  Yet I still think that being united in terms of uniforms may look tedious but I like the simplicity sometimes.  “Whatever” has become my personal idiom since long time ago.  Because I was “sealed” and didn’t grow tall (just as plastic which can’t be reshaped), and as time passed on, I kept wearing the same clothes until they were worn out utterly.  I was aware that I've saved loads of money by not growing up!  As what the people say, the clothes I’ve brought to the UK were regarded as “sports clothes” and classified as “for kids”.  OMG, life is so short that we can’t afford to waste any time, but why shall we spend lots of time on the silly dressing?

Devil’s Dyke

On March 24th, I went to the Devil’s Dyke in East Sussex with three lovely little dollies: Lim, Mandy and Yuka. To get there, you need to take a number 77 bus which only runs on weekends and Bank Holidays.

Easter Holidays and Mock Exams – My Heaven and Hell

Posted by Ksenia

Hello everyone!!

As you can probably guess I am already back in the UK and the new term at Bellerbys has begun.  Hope you all had a great Easter Break because I really had (as I promised you).

As usual it was so nice to see my dear parents, relatives and friends.  Everybody seemed very happy to see me.  I ate plenty of Russian food which is absolutely delicious and then…I went to Thailand!  So the summer arrived a bit earlier for me and my mum. 

I’d been to Thailand several years before and I really fell in love with this country.  The sea is always really warm as well as the air; people are really friendly, sand is white and extremely soft.  There are plenty of different plants around and views are just breathtaking. 

Last time we visited Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.  It’s quite a strange and an extremely interesting and exciting city.  Enormous skyscrapers and shopping centres, crowds of people and dreadful traffic exist quite happily next to a calm and relaxed atmosphere of Buddhist cathedrals.  One of the things that impressed me a lot was the royal palace – it was so beautiful and it seemed that absolutely everything is made of gold.

This time we flew directly to Phuket – an island that is especially popular with Russian tourists.  It takes quite a long tome to get there – about 9-10 hours.  For me it’s quite exhausting due to the fact that I can’t sleep in planes, I do not know why.  Anyway this magic island really worth it!!  It is just a pure relaxation – swim, sunbath, swim again, go for a walk along the seafront…  I gained some interesting experiences as well – Thai massage that is quite famous around the world.  The special thing about it that the masseuse only concentrates on particular parts of your body and uses her legs, elbows as well as hands, obviously.

Trip to Bristol

Posted by Shiny

During the Easter holiday, I visited my relatives who are working in Bristol.

It was a long, long journey which lasted for over four hours.  As usual, I enjoyed the time on the train.  As I’ve never been on a train in China, after I came to the England, I’ve become attached to trains and never, or not yet, got fed up with it even if the journey is long or even though some trains are a bit filthy.

And as usual, it started raining not long after I left home.  Although my name is Shiny, it rains almost every time when I want to do something vital or meet someone important to me.  There is a saying in China: “The auspicious people usually travel with rain or immerse into water.”  I am not sure whether I am one of them or not.  It suddenly reminds me of an ex-classmate or a “diehard follower”, How Huang, who got wet three times when he came to my house.

It took me 1h 40min to get to Southampton Central from Brighton and it rained extremely heavily outside the window, which took away my interests of enjoying beautiful scenery.  But thank goodness, the sun smiled at me when I got on the train to Bath Spa.